Mr. Magic: Semih Saygıner

Semih Saygıner, also known as Mr. Magic or the Turkish Prince, is the most renowned billiards player in Turkey. But how did he get so famous? Well, he is the one that made billiards a federation in Turkey. He played in the Holland league for nine, Portugal League for three years. No wonder he is one of the most important players in the world. He got 42 special shooting techniques called ''Semih Saygıner Magic Shots''.

Life

He was born in Adapazari, Sakarya. His father was a tailor, yet, he had no interest in that. In 1987, he lost his mother and dad in a traffic accident, unfortunately when he was in high school. He wanted to continue his school, but he just couldn't after that. That was about the time that something good was about to happen to him. He started to get interested in billiards.

Career

He was 17 when he first joined a tournament. He took part in the Istanbul tournament and had second-place proudly. He came second after Bora Karatay in national tournaments for a while. He got his first place in 1987 in a tournament, and after that, he opened a billiards saloon and taught billiards to a lot of people. His success started to grow after those times. In 1991, he finished ninth in the German Open and ninth in the Istanbul Efes Pilsen Grand Prix, and eighth in the world in 1992 in Berlin, when he defeated world champion Raymond Ceulemans 3-0. In 1994, he transferred to the most important league of billiards, the Holland League. After that, the doors of success were completely opened and Saygıner started to achieve successes that will go down in the history of Turkish billiards. He was the first Turkish player to win the CEB European Three-cushion Championship. He has won the Turkish Grand Prix 25 times in total. He has 14 Turkish championships to his name, as well as 10 carom billiards titles. However, he retired from actively taking part in sports in 2006, unfortunately, but made a huge comeback in 2015. After his comeback, he won the Turkish Championship again, and he continues his career with passion.